Posts Tagged ‘watercolor’

District of the Small Gods

Tuesday, June 7th, 2022

District of the Small Gods, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper

This thickly textured paper is porous and absorbent, but brushed tend to skip over the deep valleys in the page and leave fascinating voids in the wash.

A cat-shaped temple holds center court in this strange alien district, with other small gods represented by their own odd architectures. Is the building made of pointy things a god of war or merely one of pointy things? Does the the shape on top of the spire represent a blind eye, or an all-seeing one?

What small gods do you think reside here, waiting for their small offerings?

District of the Small Gods, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see thee way the light glows over and through the Temple of the Cat. Below, the art is properly encased in a frame, ready to bring strange delight to a shelf or wall.

District of the Small Gods, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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Concentric 15

Monday, June 6th, 2022

Concentric 15, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper

The joy of experimenting with chaos in art is that sometimes you get happy accidents, and sometimes you get gibbous moons that stare at you like a creeper.

Despite that, the matte black makes a beautiful backdrop for these shimmering bursts of color, each one fading from one thing to another as it echoes out onto the page. Gold and violet, lavender and blue-green, each one is a unique combination that changes as you look at it.

Which is your favorite part of this painting, the spooky, the pretty, or the contrast between the two?

Concentric 15, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, the dots sparkle with tiny flecks of iridescent paint. Below, you can see this moody, colorful piece in a frame, waiting to add some strangeness to your life.

Concentric 15, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
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Storm Crow

Saturday, June 4th, 2022

Storm Crow, 8″x8″ watercolor on paper

A blooming tree takes up most of the paper, black branches holding up blue-green puffs of foliage and deep fuchsia blossoms.

Despite that, the crow with rain falling from beneath its wings is the first thing to draw the eye, caught in fluid motion as it brings a storm with it. A glowing full moon ducks behind the tree, but it can’t hide from the clouds forever.

Despite the darkness of the color palette, this painting has a lovely whimsy to it that belongs in someone’s home, adding some dark delight to their decor.

Storm Crow, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the crowd raining droplets down from its wings onto the swirling tree. Below, this larger painting fills its frame beautifully.

Storm Crow, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
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Concentric 14

Friday, June 3rd, 2022

Concentric 14, 7″x5″ watercolor on yupo

The Floating Gallery is open and ready for you, my darlings!

A change of pace for the Concentric series, this painting has a shimmering blue background with opaque, matte designs atop.

The translucent yupo paper lets the light glow through, but also makes it hard to photograph with any kind of color accuracy. Although the palette is all blues and purples and shining silver, it’s hard to tell which shade of which is there when they shift with the light.

These feel more like flowers than fireworks to me, like bursts of color atop a shimmering pond or strange flocks against a cloud-flocked sky. What do you see?

Concentric 14, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see up close the way the paint sparkles and shifts in the light, and the way the yupo seems to glow with its own translucency. Below, it’s sequestered in a frame, waiting for its new home.

Concentric 14, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
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March 2022 Patreon Sketches

Monday, May 9th, 2022

There should be a Floating Gallery coming for you June 1, but for now please enjoy a nice big batch of sketch cards for my darling Patreon patrons! Some of them are for specific people, and then extras get sent to my Snow Leopards in with their other quarterly goodies.

March 2022 ACEO sketches by Amy Crook

There’s eight here, only two of which are spoken for! From top left:

  • Purple abstract! I dunno, I just like it.
  • Weird silly drippy experiment abstract, which I also like now that I’ve plaid-ified the gold and turquoise a bit.
  • Jeff asked for “writer’s block” and got this shiny, trippy bit of weirdness.
  • Eric asked for SPAAAAAACE! and his is also shiny, but he gets a TARDIS.
  • This cool sky I made got a city and some birbs to go with it.
  • I gave this little raven some more cowbell and untucked his face from his wing.
  • I also gave this abstract some more cowbell and now it’s reasonably unrecognizable and also has some Concentric vibes.
  • And this last one is full Concentric, with a bunch of bursts that kind of vanish and 3 that do not. Totally something that doesn’t work in a photo, sorry.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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You Are Far From Done

Friday, April 8th, 2022

You Are Far From Done, 10″x8″ watercolor on paper

Gorgeous shades of purple swirl into a black hole in the middle, where even the light of the stars and the shine of the paint vanishes. It very much feels like a view of space where stars bright and dim glimmer and sparkle out of a swirl of color.

The text at the bottom says, “you are far from done…” and that’s a sentiment I think a lot of us need in this difficult time. Prices rise and rise while wages stagnate, ugliness blooms while it seems like beauty is constantly under attack, but I’m here to tell you: there’s more for all of us.

We just have to find it together.

You Are Far From Done, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the words in their ruddy dark ink, and the scattering of stars both near and far twinkling up from the purple sky. Below, the art has been framed, but you can rescue it from the slammer if you want to make it yours! It’s slightly larger than its stated size, and I’d recommend framing it inside a mat or floated on some nice black museum board for maximum awesomeness.

You Are Far From Done, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
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Evermore

Thursday, April 7th, 2022

Evermore, 7″x5″ watercolor on yupo

Yupo is a nifty paper-like substrate made of polypropylene resin that doesn’t absorb water at all. This tough little sheet is semi-transparent, so you can see my tablecloth through the sunset if you look closely!

Clouds spiral upward from gold to orange to pink, while the sun sits red at the edge of the horizon, ready to slip away for the night. The tree still has a lot of growing to do, but it’s getting there, and this raven is perfectly happy to hang out and wait for spring.

The ink and paint made fascinating textures on the yupo as they dried, and you can see where I left a little impression of myself in the sun.

Evermore, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the swirls of paint and he way the pen and ink cut right through them to mark its own path on the translucent paper — and you can also se the swirls of my tablecloth showing through! Below, the painting is in a simple frame, though it might be better served by a clear acrylic frame when it finds its way home.

Evermore, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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